That "hearty maltiness" that you talk about, do you think it is from too much Crystal malt? In a beer like this, you want the spices to really pop out at you. Too much crystal malt will give it an overly sweet flavor that might overshadow the pumpkin and the spice. That's why I'm only using 0.5 lbs.
I'm still experimenting with my water chemistry. If this beer turns out good, I'll send you one so that you can compare it to yours, if you are interested.
@Brewzkier No--I think it was caused from an fairly small amount of spices I used. I wasn't going for a brew so spicy it could be like a spiced Holiday ale, but wanted more of the malty blend into the pumpkin and spice. In my opinion, the balance on this beer was perfect and was exactly what I wanted. If you want to avoid the sweetness, then I would definitely recommend trimming the crystal malt and bump up the amount of spices used. Then you'd get a much spicier, more "bite" in the flavor.
That has me a bit worried. I ended up using a different spice combination. 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 0.5 tsp ginger. No nutmeg or allspice. The hydro sample I tried after brewing was absolutely delicious. If it loses some of the spiciness after fermentation, I can always add more to secondary, or even during bottling.
I'm also thinking about adding lactose and vanilla extract during bottling. Have you ever tried this?
@Brewzkier Sounds like you'll have a darn tasty brew! :-) I have not used lactose or vanilla in brewing before, but I have talked with people who have and have enjoyed the results. I would give it a taste first before using lactose--no need to sweeten it before you give it a final taste. The vanilla extract sounds like it would be a very interesting complimentary flavor to the spices and the malts. Let me know how it turns out for you if you wind up doing it!
Yo Joe! Just wanted to let you know that I am planning to make this tomorrow. I am changing two things.... First, I am using the BIG can of Libby's, which is 107 oz I believe. I will use as much as my baking sheet allows. Second, I am cutting the Crystal malt down to 0.5 lb. I have always ended up with overly sweet beers when I use too much Crystal malt, so I just use it sparingly. I'm also using a different bittering hop, but I don't think that will affect the flavor any.
thanks for the response @terpsichoreankid. I didn't see your reply til now. I will be brewing your pumpkin ale recipe in the near future! I'll let you know how it turns out!
@zacharykutz haha--it's funny you should post, because I just finished off a pack of the Punkin Ales last week! I can tell you my recipe was not as high in alcohol content--but if you were to up it, I bet you'd be pretty darn close to the Punkin Ale. :-) Best of luck with your brew! Cheers!
How close is this to the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. Trying to find a clone for it and have seen a couple sites with suggestions but nothing defined. Love your vids man!
I see you taking your brewing seriously as you pressurize and keg your brew. I think making beer is much harder then making wine(what I do) and maybe more of an artform then wine. Making Wine is much more forgiving then beer which is why i do wine. Your brews always look good. Prost!
@terpsichoreankid Cool is that those 3 "Bum jug" wines you made lol? Just kidding. What are you making and how many gallons. Im horrible about aging wines as they are just so tasty from the get go. Currently I just finished 5 gallons of dessert style Apple wine 13.5-14% ABV also have a riesling Icewine kit going (3 Gallons) and just started 5 gallons of Key Lime(skeeter pee) in my primary. Damn... I need to go to the recycling center in scrounge up some more empty wine bottles lol
@Adol666 Haha--better get to work on finding all those bottles! LOL I have a riesling sitting right now--had a bottle of it, and I can tell it's going to be pretty good. Am trying now to figure out what will be next...
@terpsichoreankid Nice. So many choices right? Its hard to decide what to make next. Next for me is a Cherry wine made from 100% concentrate at 68 brix. one 32oz jug makes 2 gallons of juice. Going to age it with french oak spirals till Oct early Nov. going for 14% ABV on that with nice residual sugar. Perfect for thanksgiving and Xmas :)
@engagechad I might, but then I'd want to up the spices just a bit. The way it was, it was very balanced all-around. If I rose any particular element, I'd need to be careful about throwing off the balances elsewhere. More pumpkin added would be good if you wanted more of that squashy, pumpkin flavor--but if you wanted more of the pumpkin pie type taste, then you'd want to up the spices too. Cheers!
@johnb3207 You bet--it's on the Happy Halloween Pumpkin Ale video on my channel, in the more info box. I also show in that video how I made it--so you can replicate it exactly if you wish! Cheers!
@weirdbeer LOL Thanks! This batch is flying by... I may have to make more and make sure to bottle some so I can share. Next round--you got one coming!
Yea -- success!! Glad it turned out so good, have one for me! Gotta agree with you on fall going so quickly. Halloween to New Years just zooms by, what a shame. Take care. Cheers!
@Shamrockbrew Thanks! LOL I've never just let it go--so we shall see what it looks like... Before I did this vid, I shaved the sides because I looked like a scraggly hobo... :-D
Hey Joe, Im glad to see your Pumpkin Ale turned out to your liking. It looks wonderfull. I am definately going to make myself a batch next season and quite possibly a Christmas brew. Not sure what kind though, but it is going to be a stout I can guarantee that, haha. Hope things are going great up North in Indiana, I know they are in Texas. It has finally started to cool down.
@Benoand09 Thanks for the kind words! Yeah--I got so busy with the haunted house I forgot to brew a spiced ale for Christmas time... But--there are lots of good ones out there to buy, I'm not too worried. Cheers Benjamin!
That "hearty maltiness" that you talk about, do you think it is from too much Crystal malt? In a beer like this, you want the spices to really pop out at you. Too much crystal malt will give it an overly sweet flavor that might overshadow the pumpkin and the spice. That's why I'm only using 0.5 lbs.
I'm still experimenting with my water chemistry. If this beer turns out good, I'll send you one so that you can compare it to yours, if you are interested.
Let me know. Thanks Joe
Brewzkier 4 months ago
@Brewzkier No--I think it was caused from an fairly small amount of spices I used. I wasn't going for a brew so spicy it could be like a spiced Holiday ale, but wanted more of the malty blend into the pumpkin and spice. In my opinion, the balance on this beer was perfect and was exactly what I wanted. If you want to avoid the sweetness, then I would definitely recommend trimming the crystal malt and bump up the amount of spices used. Then you'd get a much spicier, more "bite" in the flavor.
terpsichoreankid 4 months ago
@terpsichoreankid
That has me a bit worried. I ended up using a different spice combination. 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 0.5 tsp ginger. No nutmeg or allspice. The hydro sample I tried after brewing was absolutely delicious. If it loses some of the spiciness after fermentation, I can always add more to secondary, or even during bottling.
I'm also thinking about adding lactose and vanilla extract during bottling. Have you ever tried this?
Brewzkier 4 months ago
@Brewzkier Sounds like you'll have a darn tasty brew! :-) I have not used lactose or vanilla in brewing before, but I have talked with people who have and have enjoyed the results. I would give it a taste first before using lactose--no need to sweeten it before you give it a final taste. The vanilla extract sounds like it would be a very interesting complimentary flavor to the spices and the malts. Let me know how it turns out for you if you wind up doing it!
terpsichoreankid 4 months ago
Yo Joe! Just wanted to let you know that I am planning to make this tomorrow. I am changing two things.... First, I am using the BIG can of Libby's, which is 107 oz I believe. I will use as much as my baking sheet allows. Second, I am cutting the Crystal malt down to 0.5 lb. I have always ended up with overly sweet beers when I use too much Crystal malt, so I just use it sparingly. I'm also using a different bittering hop, but I don't think that will affect the flavor any.
Wish me luck!
Brewzkier 4 months ago
@Brewzkier Best of luck man! Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 4 months ago
thanks for the response @terpsichoreankid. I didn't see your reply til now. I will be brewing your pumpkin ale recipe in the near future! I'll let you know how it turns out!
zacharykutz 5 months ago
@zacharykutz haha--it's funny you should post, because I just finished off a pack of the Punkin Ales last week! I can tell you my recipe was not as high in alcohol content--but if you were to up it, I bet you'd be pretty darn close to the Punkin Ale. :-) Best of luck with your brew! Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 4 months ago
How close is this to the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. Trying to find a clone for it and have seen a couple sites with suggestions but nothing defined. Love your vids man!
zacharykutz 6 months ago
@zacharykutz You know, I've never had the Dogfish Head pumpkin ale! I can tell you this one is pretty good, but can't give a good comparison...
terpsichoreankid 6 months ago
I see you taking your brewing seriously as you pressurize and keg your brew. I think making beer is much harder then making wine(what I do) and maybe more of an artform then wine. Making Wine is much more forgiving then beer which is why i do wine. Your brews always look good. Prost!
Adol666 10 months ago
@Adol666 Thank you! I've got my first batch of wine bottled and aging--will hopefully have a vid of it up here in the next couple months. Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 10 months ago
@terpsichoreankid Cool is that those 3 "Bum jug" wines you made lol? Just kidding. What are you making and how many gallons. Im horrible about aging wines as they are just so tasty from the get go. Currently I just finished 5 gallons of dessert style Apple wine 13.5-14% ABV also have a riesling Icewine kit going (3 Gallons) and just started 5 gallons of Key Lime(skeeter pee) in my primary. Damn... I need to go to the recycling center in scrounge up some more empty wine bottles lol
Adol666 10 months ago
@Adol666 Haha--better get to work on finding all those bottles! LOL I have a riesling sitting right now--had a bottle of it, and I can tell it's going to be pretty good. Am trying now to figure out what will be next...
terpsichoreankid 10 months ago
@terpsichoreankid Nice. So many choices right? Its hard to decide what to make next. Next for me is a Cherry wine made from 100% concentrate at 68 brix. one 32oz jug makes 2 gallons of juice. Going to age it with french oak spirals till Oct early Nov. going for 14% ABV on that with nice residual sugar. Perfect for thanksgiving and Xmas :)
Adol666 10 months ago
@Adol666 Sounds like it will be awesome!
terpsichoreankid 10 months ago
why do you tip it?
virginiatechfanx 11 months ago
@virginiatechfanx Why do I tip the glass?
terpsichoreankid 11 months ago
Joe, You mentioned that the pumpkin flavor was very faint, if you were to do this again, would you consider using more pumpkin to up the flavor?
engagechad 1 year ago
@engagechad I might, but then I'd want to up the spices just a bit. The way it was, it was very balanced all-around. If I rose any particular element, I'd need to be careful about throwing off the balances elsewhere. More pumpkin added would be good if you wanted more of that squashy, pumpkin flavor--but if you wanted more of the pumpkin pie type taste, then you'd want to up the spices too. Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
Joe Is there any way I could get that recipe I would love to try to make that for my friends this year thanks ...
johnb3207 1 year ago
@johnb3207 You bet--it's on the Happy Halloween Pumpkin Ale video on my channel, in the more info box. I also show in that video how I made it--so you can replicate it exactly if you wish! Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
That Looks sooooooo good I am wanting to try that lol
johnb3207 1 year ago
@johnb3207 LOL Thanks!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
Awesome! I want it!
weirdbeer 1 year ago
@weirdbeer LOL Thanks! This batch is flying by... I may have to make more and make sure to bottle some so I can share. Next round--you got one coming!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
@terpsichoreankid Awesome. We should setup a beer exchange.
weirdbeer 1 year ago
Sounds good, looks good, I'm jelous!
106elg 1 year ago
@106elg It is pretty tasty--I'm going through it WAY too fast! Speaking of which... Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
That looks like a great brew. Lovely colour!!!
grahamlong 1 year ago
@grahamlong Thanks!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
Yea -- success!! Glad it turned out so good, have one for me! Gotta agree with you on fall going so quickly. Halloween to New Years just zooms by, what a shame. Take care. Cheers!
steeljan 1 year ago
@steeljan Thanks SteelJan! Yeah--I can't believe Turkey Day is next week... and then next thing we know, it will be Christmas. Crazy!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
nice goatee :o)>
Shamrockbrew 1 year ago
@Shamrockbrew Thanks! LOL I've never just let it go--so we shall see what it looks like... Before I did this vid, I shaved the sides because I looked like a scraggly hobo... :-D
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
Hey Joe, Im glad to see your Pumpkin Ale turned out to your liking. It looks wonderfull. I am definately going to make myself a batch next season and quite possibly a Christmas brew. Not sure what kind though, but it is going to be a stout I can guarantee that, haha. Hope things are going great up North in Indiana, I know they are in Texas. It has finally started to cool down.
Cheers and Prosit!
-Benjamin
Benoand09 1 year ago 2
@Benoand09 Thanks for the kind words! Yeah--I got so busy with the haunted house I forgot to brew a spiced ale for Christmas time... But--there are lots of good ones out there to buy, I'm not too worried. Cheers Benjamin!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
Hey great vid, sweet mac, me want
ThePiperPunk 1 year ago
@ThePiperPunk It's my baby.... :-) Though the screen is blowing pixels, so I may have to get that fixed...
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
it looks great! nice head, nice color. and a bit "wheaty"! cheers mate! :)
JefferyWylde 1 year ago
@JefferyWylde Thanks! Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
damn looks awesome shoud be killer for a after dinner beer on turkey day
bigbear34744 1 year ago
@bigbear34744 Ohhhhhh yeeeeaaaaah! :-)
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago
Thanks for the update on that Pumpkin Ale! Might have to make a batch , extract style!!
Sean
MaximAvs 1 year ago
@MaximAvs I highly recommend it! Good pumpkin ales are soooo tasty. Cheers!
terpsichoreankid 1 year ago